On this day, Ash and Sabrina arrived at a vast valley. Dense forests surrounded the area, their canopies overlapping so tightly that only scattered sunlight filtered through.
"Ash, look—what's that?" Sabrina suddenly said, pointing ahead.
Not far away, a blue baby elephant Pokémon was calmly munching on fruit fallen from a tree. Now that her relationship with Ash was clear, Sabrina no longer tried to hide her emotions, staying close to him throughout the journey.
"That's Phanpy," Ash replied after a brief glance. "A pure Ground-type Pokémon. It weighs about seventy pounds and relies almost entirely on brute strength. Its offense and defense are solid, but its combat style is very straightforward. Not much variety."
He then gestured farther into the valley.
"And those over there are its evolutions—Donphan. Fully grown, heavily armored, weighing over two hundred and forty pounds. Those tusks can tear through rock. Definitely not something you'd want charging at you head-on."
Ash could already tell this was a natural habitat for Phanpy and Donphan. There were simply too many of them scattered across the valley.
"Let's move on," he said after briefly observing them with his Sharingan, shaking his head.
Sabrina frowned slightly. "You're not going to catch one? You only brought three Pokémon with you, and none of them are strong physical attackers. This seems like a perfect opportunity."
"These Phanpy live too comfortably," Ash replied calmly. "They don't have the will to fight. Look at their tusks—they're underdeveloped compared to their bodies. I'm not interested."
Ash had always been selective. If a Pokémon lacked potential worth cultivating, he wouldn't subdue it—no matter how rare it was.
After crossing the valley, the two entered the forest once more. In this world, outside of cities and major routes, forests dominated nearly everything.
"Hm?"
Ash suddenly stopped.
Pikachu, perched on his shoulder, stiffened as well and scanned the surroundings sharply. As a Pokémon with Champion-level strength, Pikachu's sense of danger was incredibly sharp.
"Sabrina," Ash said quietly, "something's here."
"I feel it too," she replied, her expression turning serious. "There's a disturbance—psychic fluctuations."
"I know," Ash nodded. "It's coming from a Pokémon. Elite-level, at least. If it's wild, then it's exceptionally talented."
"Cuckoo… cuckoo…"
A strange cry echoed through the trees.
Both of them turned instantly toward the source.
"A Noctowl," Ash said, narrowing his eyes. "And not an ordinary one—it's shiny."
Perched on a high branch was a shiny Noctowl, its coloration distinctly different from the norm. Flash Pokémon like this were rare even among rare Pokémon.
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery warped.
An illusion.
"Tch." Ash snorted. "Trying illusions already?"
"Sharingan."
The three tomoe spun instantly. The illusion shattered—and rebounded.
"Cuckoo—!"
The Noctowl screeched as if it had seen something terrifying, losing balance and falling from the branch.
"Good. Let's use this as practice," Ash said calmly. "Ralts, you're up."
A Poké Ball opened, releasing Ralts.
"Ra~"
The small Pokémon floated gently into the air, its movements still carrying a childlike innocence. But compared to before, it was clearly growing stronger.
"Cuckoo!"
The Noctowl steadied itself midair, locking onto Ralts. Its wings pulled in tightly as it suddenly accelerated, charging forward at high speed.
"Confusion."
Just as the Noctowl was about to collide—
A brilliant blue psychic force enveloped Ralts. In the next instant, the same energy wrapped around the charging Noctowl, freezing it in midair.
The violent momentum vanished completely.
The forest fell silent.
"Cuckoo!"
Breaking free from the psychic restraint, the Noctowl shrieked sharply. A flash of blue light surged through its eyes as it spun midair, releasing a hypnotic wave straight toward Ralts.
Hypnosis.
"Double Team."
At Ash's command, Ralts split instantly. Multiple identical figures appeared around the battlefield, surrounding the Noctowl from all directions. Real and fake overlapped, making it impossible to distinguish the original.
The Noctowl froze.
Its hypnotic gaze wavered as confusion set in—it couldn't tell which target was real.
"Psychic Binding Coffin."
A dense blue aura erupted from Ralts' body. Under her control, psychic energy surged outward, wrapping around the disoriented Noctowl like invisible chains, constricting it completely.
This technique wasn't a standard Pokémon move.
It was something Ash had created himself—an application inspired by Gaara's Sand Coffin, adapted through psychic power.
To bring Ralts to this level, Ash had paid a steep price.
He had pushed her through near-lethal training sessions again and again. As long as she still had breath left, Ash would use Mokuton's regenerative vitality to restore her body.
She had brushed death multiple times under the strain of psychic overload.
But Ralts understood.
She knew exactly why her strength had grown so quickly—and she had never complained.
Ash's Pokémon were all the same.
Any Pokémon that followed him wanted strength. They wanted to prove themselves. To prove that their species possessed the potential of kings.
That belief was the foundation of their resolve.
"Psychic Burial."
Boom!
"Cuckoo—!"
Under Ralts' control, the psychic bindings contracted violently, crushing inward and compressing the Noctowl's body from all sides.
However—
Her strength was still limited.
The attack stopped short of lethal force.
Ash had no intention of killing it. This wasn't a battle of life and death—only a test.
As long as the opponent lost its ability to fight, that was enough.
Boom!
Ding—!
(End of Chapter)
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